Gone are those days when people were bound to go to a casino if they wanted to play a dealer game. In this rapidly advancing technological world we have advanced ourselves to an extent where ardent gamers and technologists have made it possible to bring live casino to our own place. Now, if you want to play a dealer game, then just log into your computer and Voila! You will be welcomed to a spectacular world of live dealer gaming, where you can play dealer games at your own place, and at your own convenience and comfort, without visiting any land based casinos.
Playing at an online casino offers several advantages over playing in a land based casino. It’s far more convenient, as you can play whenever you want without having to leave your home. You are also generally welcomed to a plethora of better choice of games, and one can easily get the same value added services via the bonuses and rewards that most of the land based casinos offer.
One such company which is adding real value to the live dealer gaming industry is Evolution Gaming, which is the world leader in live dealer gaming and was founded with a vision of transforming the gaming world with high-quality live gaming solutions for discerning players.
Meet the Forerunners of Evolution Gaming
Evolution Gaming was founded in 2006 by Jens von Bahr, Chairman, Fredrik Osterberg, Chief Strategy Officer and Richard Hadida, Creative Director. They all shared a vision for transforming the gaming world with high-quality live gaming solutions for discerning players, and at the time of Evolution Gaming’s inception, all of them had a commendable experience of working in gaming sector. Richard had been developing nascent Live Casino solutions, and Jens and Fredrik also had considerable experience in the gaming sector. This founding trio remains with Evolution to this day. Their leadership and the persistence has assisted the company to taste enormous success and been the reason to become the acknowledged leader in video-streamed Live Casino gaming solutions sector. Later in 2015, Martin Carlesund joined Evolution as Group CEO with the remit to further develop the company and help it attain new heights in the gaming industry.
Initially, Evolution was listed on Nasdaq First North Premier, Stockholm in March 2015. Then on 7 June 2017, Evolution moved from First North to the main Nasdaq Stockholm market, and it was the achievement which was meant to be cherished as well as applauded by all.
Commenting at that time, Martin said: “It was a special feeling to ring the opening bell and affirm that Evolution has grown to become a large cap company since our IPO slightly more than two years ago. The list change is clear proof that the organisation has matured and professionalised during its time in a public environment.”
Offering World-class B2B Services to the Clients
Evolution’s key focus is delivering the very best player experience. They achieve this not only through a world-class portfolio of Live Casino games but through a complete and totally comprehensive world-class B2B offer for their licensees.
That total offer is built on six pillars: Operational Excellence; Licensee Customisation; Product Innovation; Maximised Mobile; Land-based Casinos; and Regulated Markets. These six pillars effectively summarise the key attributes that have been fundamental in taking evolution from a start-up to a world leader.
Operational Excellence is core to Evolution’s service. With 400+ Live Casino tables operating from their seven European studios (new studios are also opening very soon in Canada and Georgia), their licensees are offered an unrivalled scale, efficiency and service sophistication.
Evolution offers Licensee Customisation which means the greatest flexibility to meet the needs of each licensee’s brand, markets and players, from mainstream to VIP.
The Product Innovation pillar is all about Evolution’s constant investment in R&D and relentless desire to push beyond boundaries. This has resulted in innovations such as their award-winning Immersive Roulette, Baccarat Control Squeeze and Dream Catcher money wheel, which was named Digital Product of the Year at the latest Global Gaming Awards.
Evolution takes pride on designing award-winning games that offer ‘stickability’, while, of course, offering a full range of timeless classics — Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat, poker variants et al — but often with a modern twist. They deliver it all via the best HD live stream, ensuring the full portfolio is available across all devices, in landscape and portrait view on mobile, and all beautifully optimised for each screen size and operating system.
Maximised Mobile sums up our commitment to offer the largest range of mobile-optimised live tables and languages for tablet and smartphone, to help licensees make the most of the very considerable mobile opportunity.
The Land-based Casinos pillar covers not only ‘on-premise’ live studios within traditional land-based casinos but also their Dual Play convergence solutions. Individually or together, each can help traditional operators improve customer loyalty and attract new demographics.
For Evolution, Regulated Markets is primarily new and re-regulating jurisdictions, which is central to their offering for licensees. Their commitment and investment in this area has delivered powerful first-to-market advantage for so many of their licensees, and will continue to do so.
Employees are Central Element to Evolution’s Success
Employees in all areas and at all levels have been absolutely central to Evolution’s success.
The company’s game presenters are the face of Live Casino and as Evolution is a B2B provider; they are the face of a multitude of brands, a responsibility that they take very seriously. Indeed, their presenters receive arguably the best training in the industry through the Evolution Academy. Their smiling faces and professionalism, and the engagement and interaction they achieve with players, are vital factors in attracting players back to the tables again and again.
Behind the scenes, of course, Evolution has all their operations staff ensuring that everything runs smoothly. Their game integrity and risk staff monitor operations 24/7 to ensure that operations run securely and that licensees’ and players’ interest are protected. Evolution’s product teams are constantly working on extending and improving their portfolio. Their designers, meanwhile, make sure that each game UI is intuitive and easy to use on all devices.
Converting Hurdles into Opportunities
The Live Casino industry is undergoing a drastic transformation phase and the number of Live Casino providers has increased significantly in the last few years as barriers to entry have reduced. New entrants have been attracted by other factors, too: Live Casino has been one of the fastest growing gaming sectors and is forecast to continue to outpace the growth of other gaming verticals. These new entrants face considerable challenges, not least in the areas of operational excellence and the scalability of their solutions.
Also, many offer only commodity Live Casino solutions in an attempt to undercut the market. However, the gulf between these basic solutions and the level of quality, sophistication, support and sustainability offered by Evolution is huge.
Tapping the right market potential at right time; Evolution has garnered itself to be a renowned brand in the gaming industry, and with 400+ tables across multiple studios, Evolution is undeniably the market leader. Evolution is also looking forward to extend its agreements with existing licensees, attract new licensees and seek out new markets and opportunities to further strengthen their leading position.
Upcoming Studios
Evolution is well positioned for continued growth. In the very near future, they will be opening their eighth and ninth studios, in Canada and Georgia, respectively. The first of these new studios will deliver Live Casino services for BCLC (British Columbia Lottery Corporation) initially, before rolling out services for operators in other Canadian provinces.
Meanwhile, the Georgia studio in Tbilisi will serve as Evolution Gaming’s third major Live Casino studio alongside their Riga and Malta studios. This will greatly extend the company’s services to existing and new licensees.
As mentioned earlier, the company believes that they will also see continued strong growth from mobile and from the land-based sector.
Overall, Evolution will ensure that they remain at the forefront of new markets, whether this means extending their existing offering from the current studios or investing in further new studios in new territories.
Advice for the Budding Startups from the CEO’s Desk
“Offer a niche solution, something that operators can buy into and which differentiates your offering from ‘me too’ providers,” asserts Martin.
Source :-The 10 Most Desirable Gaming Solution Providers 2017